


Finishing

by exbex



Category: Last Night (1998), due South
Genre: Angst, End of the World, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 09:06:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4871107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exbex/pseuds/exbex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>written in 2009</p>
    </blockquote>





	Finishing

**Author's Note:**

> written in 2009

Four months before the world ended Ray Vecchio was praying more than he ever had in his life. He knew it was futile, the long, slow spread of blood soaking his partner’s blond hair, soaking into the fabric of Ray’s shirt and pants, seeping between Ray’s fingers telling him that he would never see that smirk, or the glint in those blue eyes ever again.

Two months before the world ended he was on the streets, trying to keep order, trying to rein in the hysteria and the violence. Again, the feeling of futility swept over him, oozing like thick, red, warm blood.

One month before the world ended he was listening to Welsh telling him to go. Welsh looked at him steadily, his eyes as impassive as ever, waiting, waiting for everything to be over. Ray wondered how long ago Welsh had given in to the futility of trying to get the world to make sense. Ray suspected that that had happened long before the news of its imminent end.

Three weeks before the world ended Ray was standing in the apartment of the most over-sexed human being he’d ever encountered, drinking scotch and pondering how he had gotten to this point. Francesca had surprised him by telling him to go and spend his last days with Fraser. He had underestimated Francesca, who, in this time of chaos, was the one who was holding things together. Of all the things that Ray Vecchio regretted, not telling her that he was proud of her was now occupying a high position on the list. She seemed to know what he could not put into words, however, and she zipped up a bag and closed the trunk of his car and gave his hand one last squeeze.

It was a last-minute decision, to come here to this guy Zwiller’s apartment. Ray wasn’t kidding himself; there were differences, a couple of inches in height, maybe ten to fifteen pounds in weight, brown eyes instead of blue, but the similarity was unnerving. He almost could have been Kowalski’s twin. Ray traced his thumb slowly on the rim of his glass, then looked up at Zwiller, who was staring at him inquisitively. Zwiller broke the silence finally. “Um, have you ever…?”

Ray nodded. “Yeah. Look, you can stop whenever you want to, no problem…”

“No,” Zwiller held up his hand. “I’m up for it, I’ve just never, you know, with another guy.”

Ray simply smiled a sad half-smile. “Just let me know what you want.”

Zwiller nodded, then flashed Ray a “come fuck me,” grin. “I guess I’m a little surprised, you know, you don’t look like the type.”

Ray wanted to ask him what he had expected, then decided it wasn’t important. He just shrugged. “Well…I guess, we should…”

“Oh, yeah,” Zwiller kind of bounced nervously on the balls of his feet. “Let’s head to the bedroom.”

Afterward Ray slowly pulled his clothes back on, sated but still feeling a gnawing emptiness inwardly. He sighed; it was to be expected. He turned to Zwiller, who had also shrugged his clothes back on, and who had a considerably fucked out expression on his face. Ray blinked and realized it was pretty close to the oversexed look Zwiller had had on his face since Ray had first showed up.

“Hey, thanks.” Zwiller stuck out his hand.

Ray shook hands with him. “Well, I hope that was….” he shrugged.

“Yeah, it was good.” Zwiller paused. “Look, um, you gonna be okay out there?”

Ray shoved his hands in his pockets as they both walked to the door. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He turned, his hand on the doorknob. “Look, thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Zwiller gave him a polite, almost sympathetic smile.

　

A different cabin, a different middle of nowhere, but some things didn’t change. Fraser, steady, dependable, loyal Benny. He had called Ray and asked him to come to Canada, to spend the last days at the cabin. Ray smiled and rubbed a hand over his eyes. He wasn’t going to kid himself; Fraser had asked him to come because Ray needed him. Fraser didn’t need Ray, Fraser didn’t need anyone. Fraser may have been lonely, but he bore the weight of that loneliness with more stoicism than Sisyphus rolling that damn rock up the hill.

Fraser walked down the hill to meet him. Ray was stopped by the look in his eyes, a look that was more real and honest than Ray had ever seen in him, and Fraser was the most honest man he’d ever known. He was surprised by the way Fraser pulled him in to his embrace. Fraser wasn’t exactly a wellspring of physical affection. He hadn’t even hugged Ray like that at Kowalski’s funeral a few short weeks ago.

They walked up the hill in silence. “Nice place,” Ray commented with a slightly raised eyebrow. To call Fraser’s cabin “primitive” would have been generous.

Fraser turned around, two axes in his hands. “It’s unfinished, Ray.” He held one axe out to Ray. Ray looked at it for a moment, confused. He opened his mouth, about to ask what the point would be in finishing the cabin when they and every other person on earth was going to be vaporized in about three weeks. He refrained when he remembered a long ago, almost forgotten conversation. Do you have an axe for me? There was probably some kind of Fraser-logic to explain it all, but suddenly it hardly seemed important.

　

They lay wrapped in a single sleeping bag that night, pressed against one another, Fraser’s arm encircling Ray, hugging him tightly to his chest.

“Fraser,” Ray sighed.

“Hmmm?”

“It’s not dark.”

“Ray, it hasn’t been dark for several weeks now.”

“I know,” Ray’s eyes were heavily closed, in spite of himself. “Makes it hard to sleep, y’know?”

Fraser sighed, his eyes also closed. “I miss the stars.”

“Mmm,” Ray mumbled his agreement. “Maybe we could get some blackout curtains for this place.”

“It would hardly be practical Ray,” Fraser murmured into Ray’s ear.

The absurdity was too much for Ray. He shook uncontrollably, first with laughter, then they turned to sobs.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” Fraser pulled him closer and buried his own tears in Ray’s shoulder.

It was the first night Ray’s dreams didn’t turn to nightmares.

　

One day before the world ended Ray and Fraser finished the cabin. They sat side by side on the roof in companionable silence. Ray looked down at their work, then at his hands. He didn’t look at Fraser as he began to speak. “Benny.”

“Yes, Ray.”

Ray closed his eyes, feeling the pain on his shoulders like the heat from the sun that refused to stop shining. “I never…” He paused, physically unable to speak. He finally opened his eyes. “Six months we were together. It was-he was exactly what I needed after Vegas and everything else. I spent my whole life looking for something, and I found it with him, and-” His voice broke. “I never told him how I felt.”

When he finally looked up Fraser was staring at him intently. He put a hand gently on Ray’s arm. “He knew, Ray. He knew without you saying it.”

Ray drew in his breath shakily. “Yeah, I guess. Thing is…it feels like I never got to finish things. And I know…I know I’m not the only one right now who probably feels that way. And I know maybe it makes no sense to feel like this when we’re all going to be dead in another day, but…” he paused. “I just miss him Benny.”

“Me too.” He put his arm around Ray and pulled him closer to his side.

　

On the last day Ray opened his eyes and wondered if it was worth it to get up. His body told him he was too old to stay on the floor, so he shrugged himself out of his sleeping bag and rubbed at his eyes.

Fraser came into the cabin with some beer and a look on his face that Ray would have sworn was mischievous if he didn’t know any better. Ray raised an eyebrow; he’d never seen Fraser even touch alcohol before. Fraser answered his questioning look. “I was saving it for today.”

“We going to get shitfaced, drink ourselves to sleep before the end of the world?”

“If we do we’ll be doing it on the river. Come on.”

Fraser closed the door of the cabin. Ray briefly wondered if they shouldn’t stay with it for the final hours, given that they had spent their last days working on it. He dismissed this thought as quickly as it had entered his mind. Finishing the cabin, after all, had been about something else altogether.

They floated down the river, Fraser manning the boat only enough to make sure they stayed upright. He kept one arm firmly around Ray’s shoulders. Ray rubbed the wrist that held his watch. They spent the last hours this way, not feeling the need to talk.

Five minutes before the world ended Ray closed his eyes, put his hand over Fraser’s, and tilted his face toward the sky.


End file.
